The Art of Maraudering
by Estherdabookworm
Summary: "Oh, you're nothing like your grandfather and father-thank the heavens!" James Sirius Potter took it as an outright insult and sought to prove his offenders that he was every bit as extraordinary as any older Potter man.
1. Chapter 1

_1975 (Marauders Era)_

James Potter smiled as he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and thought proudly to himself,_ Well Potter, you've finally finished your magnificent masterpiece! Nice choice of words too. Lily would definitely be impressed. Well, if this book was not a secret... well too bad._

He thought to himself again,_ Oh, my dear Lily Evans will be mine one day. Just one day, she will come running up to me, willingly._ Happily, he waved his wand and all the scattered pages that he had written on flew into the air and bound themselves into a book with a plain red cover.

"Hmmm, too plain. Time to spice it up a little. Fun time!"

He tapped the red cover of the book with the tip of his wand and golden, fancy cursive words which spelled 'THE MARAUDERS' HANDBOOK' appeared. He grinned and placed a charm on the book which would ensure that only those who knew the password 'I Solemnly Swear I am up to no Good' could read it and made it fire proof, water proof, and dust proof. James was definitely going through all this wand trouble just to impress.

He held the book near the candle to inspect it. Deciding to test out the book's durability, he tried to burn the book by placing it above the flame of the candle. Nothing happened except a random cry from his owl.

"_Aguamenti."_

Water spouted from the tip of his wand and splashed on his new book. The book remained nice and dry.

Pleased with his work, he gave a final wave of his wand and gave the book it's finishing touch. He decorated the book with the crest of Gryffindor and fancy, elegant golden vines crept over the book cover.

Jame was proud of himself, "I never knew I could do something like this. WOW. Even Lily would be impressed. I mean, who wouldn't be? Oh, maybe except McGonagall. She's a party pooper, no sense of humor. Like totally none at all."

He glanced proudly at the completed book in his hands. Now, for the grand revealing of his masterpiece to the rest of the Marauders gang! He rushed off to announce his magnificant masterpiece to Sirius first. Then, the whole world would know of the Marauders!

* * *

><p>2015 (Next Generation)<p>

James Sirius Potter glanced sleepily at the calender on the small table next to his bed. June 25. June 25, there was something significant about this date. Something, something. His brain was working hard to overcome the sleepy haze he was in and tried to process the information. Hmmm, June 25, 25, June, 25, June.

Suddenly, someone barged into the room.

"James! Wake up!"

James turned in his bed, "Mmmhhmm, wakey." He yawned, and muttered again,"After 5, no 10 minutes."

The person sighed impatiently, "Come on, wake up. Have you forgotten today is your birthday? Percy, Chris and your cousins are threatening to eat your cake if you don't quickly come downstairs."

James sighed and sat up, "Old misers, having to wake someone up so early in the morning. Oh, what day is today?"

Sighing, Esther replyed," It's June 25 which means it's your birthday and that your dad and mum just sent you something soft and squishy by owl."

James shot out of his bed and into the bathroom. After a minute, he bolted down the stairs with Esther and was greeted by a whole gang of friends. When James wasn't looking, Esther crept behind him and whispered to one of James' closest friends, Perseus Black (a.k.a. Percy, Perce) "Hey Perce. You were right, he _was _desperate for the invisibility cloak that his father promised to give him on his 12th birthday. If only James was a little dumber and had worse memory, we could use the same trick on him everyday."

Percy grinned, "Of course I am right. Heck, I am one of his closest friend. And probably smartest too."

Esther sighed, " You and James. When having your ego combined, I'd say is more inflated than a balloon 603 inches in height and 546 inches in width. Terrible."

Percy shrugged, "Compliment accepted."

Playfully, Esther whacked him, "Insane donkey."

" I thank you for your encouragement. Albert Einstein said, 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results'

Typical cheeky, obnoxious, irritating, fun, talk back, good ol' Percy. Esther resisted the great need to slap him.

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><p><strong>So, how was it? Boring? Fine? Really Bad? Good? Do tell me:)<strong>

**Oh, and constructive criticism is encouraged. Please inform me if there is any grammatical/spelling/etc errors.**

**I definitely need improvement. **

**Review please!**

**~Estherdabookworm**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! Just to inform you, this story may go back and forth in time, so do tell me if it is confusing:)**

**And, please. If you see any grammatical or spelling errors, please tell me. Better to be embarassed once than twice:p.**

* * *

><p>Next Generation (3rd year, 2017)<p>

"Oi, James. Wake up."

James groaned and stirred slightly, "What the heck do you want?"

Percy sighed, "YOU told me to wake you up at one in the morning so that we could explore the secret passage behind the Great Hall."

To his annoyance, James continued sleeping. Frustrated, Percy pointed his wand at James' neck and muttered, "_Aguamenti._"

The reaction was explosive much to Percy's amusement. James literally fell off of his bed and landed with a satisfying 'thud'.

"Ouch! Perce! Why the bloo-"

"Shhhhhh! Do you want the whole of Hogwarts to discover what we are planning to do?"

James nodded and spoke quieter this time, "Fine! And why did you have to bloody wet me for? I was waking up anyway!"

Rolling his eyes, Percy whispered, "Liar! I've been trying to wake you up for a whole freaking hour you nitwit. Let's move, we're wasting moonlight trying to win this stupid argument about your waking up issues."

"I most definitely do NOT have wakin-"

James' sentence was cut short by a hand clamped over his mouth. Percy glared venomously at him and James suddenly remembered that it was only about a quater past two in the early morning and decided to shut up.

Still glaring, Percy released his hand from James' gaping mouth and wiped it on his cloak. Together they crept out of the Gryffindor common room and out into the corridors.

_"Lumos_." Percy's wand lighted up at the tip. He waved it around and saw James' blank face in the eerie darkness of the corridor. James nodded and followed Percy's lead.

* * *

><p>The next ten minutes was pure torture for the both of them. Hiding from the notorious Filch, and not to mention his stupid cat, Mrs Norris IIII.<p>

"Ouch watch my foot you idiot!"

"That was your fault, you walked into my path."

"No! You did. Not me."

This continued until they reached a dead end.

James mused, "Now, which wall was it? I have totally forgotten."

"Uhhh, I think it's that wall on the left. I remembered it was a grey wall."

"You remembered correctly! Now, which grey wall is it? I definitely remember all the walls being grey. Oh, and the Marauders Map?"

Percy frowned and pondered for awhile. "Give me a sec." He fumbled around in his cloak and after a moment, eventually, he found a wrinkled, brownish, stained parchment and handed it to James.

James looked Percy in the eye and grinned playfully. He tapped his wand on the parchment while chanting, 'I Solemnly Swear I am up to no Good'.

Slowly, words and pictures begun to form on the parchment. When everything was done, James indicated two tiny dots on the map. "That's me, that's you. The wall hiding the secret entrance is the wall in the middle."

Percy sighed, "Ok, let's move." He strode purposefully to the middle wall and tapped it with his wand chanting the Marauder's password. The wall shook slightly before opening with a groan. As they entered the dark, musty room hidden behind the wall, the wall slowly closed. James could hear Percy mutter something unfathomable in the dark.

James shifted his foot slowly and hissed, "Perce!"

Percy held up his already lighted wand and motioned for James to lead the way. They crept silently along until they reached a wooden door with a rusty lock. James rattled the door, it didn't move. clearly, it was locked.

"Now what do we do Percy?" Percy pondered for a moment and snapped his fingers.

"_Alohomora."_

They could here the mechanisms in the lock unlocking themselves and finally they door swung open. James stepped through the door, "Wow."

* * *

><p>1975 (Marauders Era)<p>

"Hey, Moony! Could you perform the spell? I've forgotten how to do it. Again."

Remus rolled his eyes and scrambled over to where Sirius and James were magicking everything for the new Marauders' HQ into place. With a deep sigh, he waved his wand and placed a ward to prevent anyone who didn't know the password from crossing the circle.

"There, it's done. Stop bugging me, I am trying to enchant every candle here."

James grinned,"Sure thing mate. But, I do think Padfoot is in need of some assistance of any kind. Don't forget to mention Wormtail."

Remus groaned and stomped off to assist them.

The Marauders were currently working on a project to fix up an old secret room that will become their HQ. In the middle of the room, on a table, was an entire stash of galleons that would be to fund any pranks in the near future. There was a shelf that contained The Marauders' Handbook (Written by James) and a massive hoard of essential prank supplies such as, dungbombs, containers of slime, stink pellets, etc.

Peter was struggling to transfigure the door into the correct size while James was trying to help Remus and Sirius charm the wall.

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><p>2017 (Next Generation)<p>

"Wow! By Merlin's underwear!" James and Percy looked around in awe. The room glowed dimly and the candles lighting the room were flickering giving the room a warming effect.

"This is cool!"

"Oh what does Esther say whenever she's excited or happy again?"

"Uhhh."

"Oh yeah! Let's all do the cha cha!"

James rolled his eyes at Percy and beckoned him to ransack the shelves. Together they went through the shelf like bookworms that have been starved for days. James hand paused for awhile at a book with a hard red cover and fancy gold vines bordering the corners. He grabbed it and read the title aloud.

"T-the Marauders handbook by James Potter and Sirius Black." His mouth stopped midair. "By Merlin's boxer shorts! Percy! Look, this book is written by my grandfather!"

Percy rushed over from where he was and snatched the book away from James' quivering hands. He gasped when he read the cover.

"You know what James? Let's get back to the room and take a peek. "

James grinned his trademark grin, "Attaboy my Percy!"

"Attaboy my James!"

They laughed their way back to the room.

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><p>Well? How was it?<p>

:D tell me please! WHeeee! hahaha:)

I can't wait for all those lovely reviews XD

~Estherdabookworm


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